Henrik Stålhane Hiim
Biographic Data
| ID | 5792639 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Henrik Stålhane Hiim |
| GIVEN NAMES | Henrik Stålhane |
| FAMILY NAME | Hiim |
| SIGNATURE | HIIM H S |
| AFFILIATIONS | Norwegian Institute of International Affairs |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-5389-7841 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 14 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 16 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 14 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2013 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Measuring military competition in the 21st century
Concerned, but not impressed
This article examines how Chinese observers perceive NATO's engagement in the Asia–Pacific region. While officials portray NATO as an increasing threat to China, Chinese analysts and scholars are ambivalent about NATO's ability to impact Chinese security. Analysing writings published between 2022 and 2025, we find three broad patterns. First, observers in China see NATO's policies as part of a broader US containment strategy, and express concern …
The U.S.-China Stability-Instability Paradox
With China and the United States seemingly locked in intensifying and enduring competition, many analysts compare today's U.S.-China rivalry with the one between the Soviet Union and the United States during the Cold War. This article draws on the stability-instability paradox to compare the prospect for limited war in these scenarios. We identify two factors, geography and technology, that affect the likelihood of the paradox leading to conflict…
Knock-on Risks to Nato’s Space-based War-fighting Capabilities
The last atomic Waltz
China's nuclear expansion has fueled debates about its nuclear strategy.In this article, I argue that there is still little evidence to suggest that China's strategy has changed.The expansion can best be explained as an effort to bolster China's second-strike capability, and it is primarily driven by increasing concerns about US missile defense as well as nuclear and conventional counterforce weapons.This is in line with assumptions of the nuclea…
Killing them softly
China is developing counterspace capabilities which may threaten US space systems. At the same time, its increasing space dependence encourages restraint in warfare. We argue that these conflicting trends have affected China's counterspace posture in two main ways. First, China is bolstering space deterrence through offensive weapons, as well as more resilient and redundant space systems. Second, China prioritizes soft-kill counterspace capabilit…
The Dynamics of an Entangled Security Dilemma
Amid an intensifying rivalry with the United States, China is modernizing and significantly expanding its nuclear forces. These developments fuel concerns that China's traditional nuclear strategy premised on a limited nuclear arsenal for assured retaliation and a no-first-use policy is undergoing a major shift. Using Chinese-language materials, an examination of Chinese debates about China's security environment and the future direction of its n…
Revisiting nuclear hedging
Technological shifts have made nascent nuclear arsenals more vulnerable. This article examines how this affects nuclear hedgers—that is, states deliberately seeking nuclear latency or the capability to develop the bomb. It argues that growing vulnerabilities provide hedgers with increasing incentives to acquire sophisticated ballistic missiles. Possession of missiles is crucial to limit the ‘window of vulnerability’ between a nuclear breakout dec…
Hardening Chinese Realpolitik in the 21st Century
Increasingly, policymakers, observers and scholars are calling for including China in nuclear arms-control efforts. Missing from debates, however, is a thorough analysis of Chinese perspectives. Drawing extensively on Chinese-language sources, this article traces the evolution of arms-control views among Chinese strategists and experts during the last decade. Updating earlier scholarship, we find that most Chinese strategists tend to view arms-co…
Conventional Counterforce Dilemmas
In response to North Korea's nuclear weapons program, South Korea is quietly pursuing an independent conventional counterforce and countervalue strategy. This strategy is unique. Few, if any, nonnuclear states have sought to rely on advanced conventional capabilities to deter a nuclear-armed adversary. Why is South Korea pursuing a conventional counterforce and countervalue strategy, and what could its impact be on strategic stability on the Kore…
China’s Realism in the Middle East
China seems determined to maintain sound relations with all the major players in the region, to keep a low profile and to avoid costly entanglements
Counterproliferation Bargaining with the United States
This article analyzes China’s use of issue-linkage strategies in its approach to nuclear proliferation. It highlights that China has used its ties to nuclear proliferators as a bargaining chip vis-a-vis the United States. The United States is dependent on Chinese cooperation to secure nonproliferation objectives such as a non-nuclear Iran, and China has used this dependency to extract side-payments for its cooperation. Moreover, Beijing has used …
Våpenkappløpene i Asia- og Stillehavsområdet
Etter flere tiår med rask økonomisk vekst satser en rekke stater i Asia- og Stillehavsområdet på å utvikle sterkere militærmakt. I denne artikkelen hevdes det at det nå foregår flere våpenkappløp i regionen. Våpenkappløpene skjer på flere militære og militærteknologiske områder og mellom ulike kombinasjoner av stater. Et fellestrekk er imidlertid at de er drevet fram av et Kina som ikke bare har vokst seg sterkere, men som også uroer sine naboer …
Bertil Heurlin (red.)
The Dynamics of an Entangled Security Dilemma
Amid an intensifying rivalry with the United States, China is modernizing and significantly expanding its nuclear forces. These developments fuel concerns that China's traditional nuclear strategy premised on a limited nuclear arsenal for assured retaliation and a no-first-use policy is undergoing a major shift. Using Chinese-language materials, an examination of Chinese debates about China's security environment and the future direction of its n…
Conventional Counterforce Dilemmas
In response to North Korea's nuclear weapons program, South Korea is quietly pursuing an independent conventional counterforce and countervalue strategy. This strategy is unique. Few, if any, nonnuclear states have sought to rely on advanced conventional capabilities to deter a nuclear-armed adversary. Why is South Korea pursuing a conventional counterforce and countervalue strategy, and what could its impact be on strategic stability on the Kore…
The last atomic Waltz
China's nuclear expansion has fueled debates about its nuclear strategy.In this article, I argue that there is still little evidence to suggest that China's strategy has changed.The expansion can best be explained as an effort to bolster China's second-strike capability, and it is primarily driven by increasing concerns about US missile defense as well as nuclear and conventional counterforce weapons.This is in line with assumptions of the nuclea…
Revisiting nuclear hedging
Technological shifts have made nascent nuclear arsenals more vulnerable. This article examines how this affects nuclear hedgers—that is, states deliberately seeking nuclear latency or the capability to develop the bomb. It argues that growing vulnerabilities provide hedgers with increasing incentives to acquire sophisticated ballistic missiles. Possession of missiles is crucial to limit the ‘window of vulnerability’ between a nuclear breakout dec…
The U.S.-China Stability-Instability Paradox
With China and the United States seemingly locked in intensifying and enduring competition, many analysts compare today's U.S.-China rivalry with the one between the Soviet Union and the United States during the Cold War. This article draws on the stability-instability paradox to compare the prospect for limited war in these scenarios. We identify two factors, geography and technology, that affect the likelihood of the paradox leading to conflict…
Hardening Chinese Realpolitik in the 21st Century
Increasingly, policymakers, observers and scholars are calling for including China in nuclear arms-control efforts. Missing from debates, however, is a thorough analysis of Chinese perspectives. Drawing extensively on Chinese-language sources, this article traces the evolution of arms-control views among Chinese strategists and experts during the last decade. Updating earlier scholarship, we find that most Chinese strategists tend to view arms-co…
Bertil Heurlin (red.)
Våpenkappløpene i Asia- og Stillehavsområdet
Etter flere tiår med rask økonomisk vekst satser en rekke stater i Asia- og Stillehavsområdet på å utvikle sterkere militærmakt. I denne artikkelen hevdes det at det nå foregår flere våpenkappløp i regionen. Våpenkappløpene skjer på flere militære og militærteknologiske områder og mellom ulike kombinasjoner av stater. Et fellestrekk er imidlertid at de er drevet fram av et Kina som ikke bare har vokst seg sterkere, men som også uroer sine naboer …
Counterproliferation Bargaining with the United States
This article analyzes China’s use of issue-linkage strategies in its approach to nuclear proliferation. It highlights that China has used its ties to nuclear proliferators as a bargaining chip vis-a-vis the United States. The United States is dependent on Chinese cooperation to secure nonproliferation objectives such as a non-nuclear Iran, and China has used this dependency to extract side-payments for its cooperation. Moreover, Beijing has used …
China’s Realism in the Middle East
China seems determined to maintain sound relations with all the major players in the region, to keep a low profile and to avoid costly entanglements
Hardening Chinese Realpolitik in the 21st Century
Increasingly, policymakers, observers and scholars are calling for including China in nuclear arms-control efforts. Missing from debates, however, is a thorough analysis of Chinese perspectives. Drawing extensively on Chinese-language sources, this article traces the evolution of arms-control views among Chinese strategists and experts during the last decade. Updating earlier scholarship, we find that most Chinese strategists tend to view arms-co…
Conventional Counterforce Dilemmas
In response to North Korea's nuclear weapons program, South Korea is quietly pursuing an independent conventional counterforce and countervalue strategy. This strategy is unique. Few, if any, nonnuclear states have sought to rely on advanced conventional capabilities to deter a nuclear-armed adversary. Why is South Korea pursuing a conventional counterforce and countervalue strategy, and what could its impact be on strategic stability on the Kore…
Revisiting nuclear hedging
Technological shifts have made nascent nuclear arsenals more vulnerable. This article examines how this affects nuclear hedgers—that is, states deliberately seeking nuclear latency or the capability to develop the bomb. It argues that growing vulnerabilities provide hedgers with increasing incentives to acquire sophisticated ballistic missiles. Possession of missiles is crucial to limit the ‘window of vulnerability’ between a nuclear breakout dec…
The Dynamics of an Entangled Security Dilemma
Amid an intensifying rivalry with the United States, China is modernizing and significantly expanding its nuclear forces. These developments fuel concerns that China's traditional nuclear strategy premised on a limited nuclear arsenal for assured retaliation and a no-first-use policy is undergoing a major shift. Using Chinese-language materials, an examination of Chinese debates about China's security environment and the future direction of its n…
The last atomic Waltz
China's nuclear expansion has fueled debates about its nuclear strategy.In this article, I argue that there is still little evidence to suggest that China's strategy has changed.The expansion can best be explained as an effort to bolster China's second-strike capability, and it is primarily driven by increasing concerns about US missile defense as well as nuclear and conventional counterforce weapons.This is in line with assumptions of the nuclea…
Killing them softly
China is developing counterspace capabilities which may threaten US space systems. At the same time, its increasing space dependence encourages restraint in warfare. We argue that these conflicting trends have affected China's counterspace posture in two main ways. First, China is bolstering space deterrence through offensive weapons, as well as more resilient and redundant space systems. Second, China prioritizes soft-kill counterspace capabilit…
The U.S.-China Stability-Instability Paradox
With China and the United States seemingly locked in intensifying and enduring competition, many analysts compare today's U.S.-China rivalry with the one between the Soviet Union and the United States during the Cold War. This article draws on the stability-instability paradox to compare the prospect for limited war in these scenarios. We identify two factors, geography and technology, that affect the likelihood of the paradox leading to conflict…
Knock-on Risks to Nato’s Space-based War-fighting Capabilities
Measuring military competition in the 21st century
Concerned, but not impressed
This article examines how Chinese observers perceive NATO's engagement in the Asia–Pacific region. While officials portray NATO as an increasing threat to China, Chinese analysts and scholars are ambivalent about NATO's ability to impact Chinese security. Analysing writings published between 2022 and 2025, we find three broad patterns. First, observers in China see NATO's policies as part of a broader US containment strategy, and express concern …
Political science (12 works) · Law (10 works) · Law (10 works) · China (9 works) · Nuclear Issues and Defense (8 works) · Economics (7 works) · Political economy (7 works) · Engineering (6 works) · International Relations and Foreign Policy (6 works) · Nuclear weapon (6 works)